When Michael Rose left prison, he took five Bibles with him. But he left behind his intense anger, he says, over his child rape and molestation convictions.

The 32-year-old man always maintained his innocence. For six years, he fought to get out of prison. But when he walked out of the Twin Rivers Correctional Facility Dec. 7 and hugged his mother, he said he was overwhelmed with relief, not wrath."I got rid of my anger and bitterness years ago. Had to, or else it would have ruined me," Rose said.Authorities had accused Rose of participating in a Wenatchee "sex ring" involving young children.

He was convicted in March 1995 of rape and molestation charges involving two boys, and would have spent 23 years in prison if he had not won an appeal. A judge vacated his convictions Dec. 5.He was the 18th sex-abuse defendant to be released from prison when courts overturned their convictions or because they pleaded guilty to lesser charges."I did not do any of it," Rose said about the allegations in a telephone interview from his mother and stepfather's home in Tonasket.

After five days of freedom, Rose still marveled at everyday pleasures, such as spotting a squirrel and drinking real coffee. "I don't see razor wire when I look out the window. That's nice," he said.Rose, who worked as a handyman before going to prison, said he's looking for a job. He eventually wants to get married and have a family and hopes his case will not follow him for the rest of his life.And though Rose is celebrating his freedom, he says prison had some positive influence on his life.

He became a Christian and "started living the way God wanted me to live."That lifestyle includes frequently reading the Bible, avoiding violent and sexually explicit television shows and not swearing. Rose said he occasionally smoked marijuana and drank too much before he went to prison. No more, he said."I grew up (in prison). I was living a pretty wild lifestyle before," he said. "I live healthy now. I eat healthy. I follow God's laws."Rose said he relied on his strong faith to sustain him in prison and plans to stay devoted to it now that he's out. He turned to God, he said, when he made decisions about whether to take a plea bargain to a lesser charge and get out of prison as early as March 1999. He said God told him to stay behind bars and wait."I look back, and I still wouldn't have took it, but it was awful tempting," he said, adding prosecutors offered him pleas before his trial and in 1999.

Rose said it was his faith, too, that led him to forgive Cherie Town, who testified against him at his trial. He said he holds former Wenatchee Police Detective Bob Perez partially responsible for his convictions, but stopped being angry with Perez after several years in prison."If he asked forgiveness, I would forgive him," Rose said.

But Rose said it's tough for him to forget the circumstances that led up to his incarceration. This is his version of the events from late 1993 through 1995:Rose said Town's two disabled boys told him in December 1993 their father, Meridith "Gene" Town, had molested them during a camping trip. Rose, who was living in the Towns' basement room at the time, said he told Cherie Town about the boys' allegations. Cherie and Gene Town were arrested in April 1994 on multiple counts of child rape and molestation.Rose said Perez questioned him about his involvement when the Towns were arrested, but did not arrest him until Sept. 19, 1994. Rose said he was surprised by the allegations and said he believes Perez pressured Cherie Town to name him and Randall Reed as suspects.

"If we had done something, I would have thought it would have came out right when everything else did," he said.Rose alleged Perez coerced the boys into making up allegations and that the former detective and social workers manufactured evidence against him. He said his trial lawyer, Phil Safar, did not fully investigate Perez and should have challenged the charges more vigorously.Rose said when the jury came back with a verdict of guilty, he felt numb. "My mom was crying. That was the worst part -- seeing my mom cry," he said.Afterward, he said he "was glad the trial was over so we could get to an appeal."

A six-year appeals battle followed, and ended in Rose's release Dec. 7. On Nov. 22, the state Court of Appeals found that enough questions existed about the allegations against Rose to order a special hearing to explore his appeal. The court cited evidence that questions Perez's methods and the reliability of the two boys who made allegations against Rose.The court noted evidence the boys' physical exams did not reveal abuse and that they had severe psychiatric and developmental problems.

Doctors diagnosed one alleged victim, who was 11 at the time, with an I.Q. of 49 and said he was "highly suggestible and easily influenceable," according to court documents.Testimony Cherie Town gave against Rose is questionable too, the court wrote, because she had recanted her allegations against Reed.

Reed's attorneys had argued Perez pressured Town to name Rose and Reed to get dozens of child molestation charges against her dropped.Town entered an Alford plea to two counts of child rape in 1994, but was released from prison after agreeing to a deal with prosecutors.She entered an Alford plea to one count of child molestation and dropped the appeal of her original convictions in exchange for her release from prison. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains their innocence, but concedes they would likely be convicted at trial.Gene Town pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation and two counts of child rape in 1994. The alleged victims were his two children.

He claimed Perez pressured him to sign a confession and said prosecutors withheld information indicating his children were not abused. He was freed from prison in June after entering an Alford plea to a misdemeanor.

Chelan County Prosecutor Gary Riesen said he agreed not to fight to keep Rose in prison because witnesses would not be able to testify at the special hearing and the judge scheduled to preside over the hearing had already ruled twice that Perez's interview methods were improper.Rose, who plans to file a civil suit, said when questions arose about the sex-abuse cases, Riesen should have "reevaluated the situation," perhaps offering some of those who had been convicted new trials.

Riesen declined to discuss Rose's guilt or innocence. "The jury heard the evidence in this case and that's what we go on," he said.Rose said he received a letter from Town about two and a half years after he went to prison where she recanted her allegations against him, and he said she was prepared to recant her testimony. Town could not be reached for comment.In prison, Rose said he often feared being attacked. Other prisoners, he said, shunned those convicted of rape and molestation, especially those who hurt kids.

Rose's Department of Correction records show he got into two fights -- one of which he said was started when another inmate called him a child molester. Rose said in both cases the other inmate attacked him and he was defending himself.

Rose was punished for his involvement in the two fights.Rose said he placed himself in protective custody, staying in a cell by himself, while he was at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla to avoid being a target for other prisoners. At the last prison Rose served time at, Twin Rivers Corrections Center, he shared a cell in a unit for sex offenders."I'm strong. I can fight.

But I cannot fight 100 people, and you can't constantly look behind your back and think someone is going to stab you," Rose said.In his cell, he said he read his Bible, drew a little and exercised. One year, he did 150,000 push-ups. He lost 80 pounds. His infrequent dreams were of being outside, camping in a forest. But he did not keep track of how many days he'd been in prison. "Just one day at a time," he said.

Katherine Schiffner can be reached at 664-7155 or by e-mail at schiffner@wenworld.com